In the 1920s, businesses began to close. People lost their jobs. Economic depression spread across America and the world. In the 1930s the time period became known as the Great Depression. In California, the Great Depression affected many industries. Banks closed and oil companies lost money. People had little money to spend. In 1932, farms made half as much money as three years earlier. Many farmers lost their land. As banks and businesses closed, unemployment rose. By 1932, more than one-fourth of the state’s workforce had no work. Without jobs people lost their homes. By 1934, the country was also suffering from the worst drought in its history. Farmland in many states was ruined, soil dried up, and terrible dust storms turned the sky black and covered everything in dirt. The region most affected by the drought was called the Dust Bowl. As farms in the Dust Bowl failed, hundreds of thousands of people headed to California hoping for work and a new beginning.